Monday, May 12, 2008

5/9 - 5/11 Weekend Roundup and News

This weekend we got a fairly critical view of the KIA Tigers from the Korea Times. Choi Hee-seop is singled out in particular.

In Daejon, a foreign moron ran onto the field. Hat tip to the EWC.

Woori vs. KIA



5/9 - KIA 12, Woori 1
5/10 - KIA 4, Woori 1
5/11 - KIA 3, Woori 1

Good news Tigers fans, KIA is showing signs of life for the first time all year. On Friday, the story was Jose Lima(5.70 ERA, 1-2, 1.47 WHIP). I guess he realized that KIA was getting serious about that whole "releasing" thing. Lima tossed 7 strong innings(89 pitches, 55 strikes) allowing only two hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. Woori helped out the KIA offense more than it should have by allowing 7 walks and committing three errors in the field during the Friday romp. The big bat for KIA was Lee Hyeon-gon(.254/.306/.343). Lee went 2-3 with a homer, a walk, 3 RBI and two runs scored.

KIA continued its hot pitching on Saturday and Sunday. Seo Jae-weong(3.72 ERA, 2-3, 1.49 WHIP) tossed 7 innings(100 pitches, 64 strikes) on Saturday. He allowed only 1 run on 4 hits and struck out 5. Lee Dae-jin(3.80 ERA, 1-3, 1.61 WHIP) started on Sunday. He tossed 5 innings(83 pitches, 49 strikes) while surrendering 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks. Han Ki-ju(2.13 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 8 saves) saved both games for the Tigers.

Lotte vs. Doosan

5/9 - Lotte 9, Doosan 2
5/10 - Lotte 5, Doosan 3
5/11 - Doosan 4, Lotte 1


It was throwback uni Sunday for both Doosan and Lotte.


Han Yeong-yi threw out the first pitch.

Friday's lopsided affair featured a complete game from Lotte starter Marty McCleary(4.78 ERA, 2-1, 1.57 WHIP). McCleary needed 126 pitches(82 strikes) to go the distance against Doosan. He allowed 2 runs on 9 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 9. Both Lee Dae-ho(.350/.448/.525, 5 HR, 31 RBI) and Karim Garcia(.252/.326/.504, 8 HR, 25 RBI) clubbed homers on Friday.

Starting pitching was also the story on Saturday for Lotte. Lotte's Song Sung-jun(4.99 ERA, 5-2, 1.51 WHIP) threw 7 strong innings( 107 pitches, 65 strikes). He allowed 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. He added 4 punchouts. The game was 5-0 when Doosan mounted a fake rally in the 7th off of a weary Song. Doosan's Kim Hyeon-su(.366/.449/.485, 24 RBI, 8 SB) hit a two-run bomb in the inning. Cho Seong-hwan(.339/.377/.449) was Lotte's top hitter on Saturday. Cho was 3-4 with a double, a homer, a walk, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored.

On Sunday, it was Doosan who recieved some strong starting pitching. Lee Hye-cheon(5.13 ERA, 2-1, 1.25 WHIP) tossed 6 1/3 innings(91 pitches, 57 strikes) allowing only one run on two hits and two walks while striking out 5. Lotte's only run came from a Kang Min-ho(.349/.424/.632, 7 HR, 22 RBI) solo homer in the 2nd inning. Doosan's offense did muster 4 runs, but they came with a lot of help. Doosan only had 2 hits and three walks all day. Most of the runs came with help from 3 Lotte fielding errors.

Hanhwa vs. LG

5/9 - Hanhwa, 11 LG 5
5/10 - Hanhwa 7, LG 6
5/11 - LG 6, Hanhwa 1

Hanhwa clubbed three homers during their Friday night trouncing of LG. Kim Tae-gyun(.295/.4.05/.663, 10HR 28 RBI), Doug Clark(.320/.409/.660, 12 HR, 33 RBI) and Lee Yeong-woo(.347/.409/.512) all went long in the romp. LG starter Jamie Brown had another rough inning. He only lasted three innings while giving up 5 runs on 7 hits and two walks.

Doug Clark continued to make his early case for league MVP on Saturday night. Clark clubbed two more homeruns while going 2-3 with 4 RBI and two runs scored. Brad Thomas(3.60 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 6 saves) struck out three and only gave up 1 hit during his 1 1/3 inning of work. He recorded the save.

On Sunday it took an excellent effort from LG starter, Bong Jung-gun(3.71 ERA, 3-5, 1.34 WHIP), to beat Hanhwa and ace pitcher, Ryu Hyeon-jin(2.60 ERA, 5-2, 1.23 WHIP). Dr. Bong threw 8 1/3 innings(114 pitches, 66 strikes) allowing one run on 4 hits and three walks while striking out 5. The lone Hanhwa run came on a solo homer by Kim Tae-won(.294/.399/.563, 9 HR, 25 RBI). Ryu took the loss for Hanhwa, but it was the Hanhwa bullpen that allowed most of the damage. Ryu threw 6 innings(101 pitches, 62 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 4 walks. He only struck out 4. LG's top hitter was Ahn Chi-yong(.410/.540/.692 in only 39 AB's). Ahn went 2-4 with a homer, 3 RBI and 1 run scored.

Samsung vs. SK

5/9 - SK 8, Samsung 5
5/10 - Samsung 7, SK 4
5/11 - SK 10, Samsung 7

I went into this series wanting to decide if SK was the best team in Asia. My answer? If they're not the best, they're awfully close. This team is Korea's best chance to win the Asian Series in November. SK is the most complete baseball team in Korea.

Friday night's game was a 4 hour grindfest. Perfect for the falling temperatures in Daegu. Thanks guys! Both teams were fairly sloppy and both teams tried to use as many pitchers as possible. The big bats were SK's Park Kyeong-won(.306/.417/.463) and Samsung's Choi Hyeong-woo(.267/.347/.456). Park went 2-5 with a homer, 4 RBI and one run scored. Choi was 2-4 with a homer, 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

Saturday's game featured both better weather and a better result for the home team. SK banged out 14 hits, but Samsung pitching didn't give them much help. Samsung's 5 pitchers didn't walk anyone. Park Kyeong-won clubbed another homer while going 3-4 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored. Samsung's catcher, Jin Kab-yong(.337/.404/.547, 6 HR, 19 RBI) also clubbed a homer while going 3-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.

I am convinced that Sunday's game never actually ended. The two teams just got bored with changing pitchers and left. Samsung games tend to be ugly affairs that take days to end. Sunday was one of the worst examples of this. Between the two teams, there were over 90 at bats. Samsung 1st baseman, Jacob Cruz(.304/.385/.400, 20 RBI) went 2-4 with a homer, a walk, 2 RBI and one run scored. SK's Kim Jae-hyeon(.326/.433/.558) was 3-6 with two doubles, 3 RBI and two runs scored. The less said about this game, the better.

1 comment:

FĂ©nix said...

Does anybody knows where's Darwin Cubillan right now? Did he been released from SK??